NEW RECORD OF THE SPINY PUFFERFISH , TYLERIUS SPINOSISSIMUS ( REGAN , 1908 ) , FROM ISRAEL , GULF OF AQABA , RED SEA ( ACTINOPTERYGII : TETRAODONTIFORMES : TETRAODONTIDAE )

The spiny pufferfi sh, Tylerius spinosissimus (Regan, 1908), is recorded for the fi rst time from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, based on a specimen collected off Eilat, Israel at a depth of 350–400 m. This fi nding also confi rms the occurrence of the species in the Red Sea which was previously based on an unsubstantiated record.

The spiny pufferfi sh, Tylerius spinosissimus (Regan, 1908), is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacifi c (Regan 1908, Saya-de-Malha Bank;Hardy 1981, off north-western Australia; Kyushin et al. 1982, South China Sea;Hardy 1984, Alas Strait, off Sumbawa, Indonesia;Smith and Heemstra 1986, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa;Mohsin and Ambak 1996, Malaysia;Matsuura and Tyler 1997, New Caledonia;Shao et al. 2008, Taiwan;Fricke et al. 2009, Réunion;Larson et al. 2013, Northern Territory, Australia;Fricke 2015, Morobe, Papua New Guinea).Outside this range, the species was recorded from Hurghada, Red Sea by Budker and Fourmanoir (1954: 324, as "Amblyrhynchotes spinosissimus"), listing the species without any further data.This Red Sea record was cited but not discussed by several authors, but as no specimen was available and no information about the record had been provided, Golani and Bogorodsky (2010: 86) came to the conclusion that the record of T. spinosissimus could not be confi rmed.
The genus Tylerius Hardy, 1984 is monotypic and contains Tylerius spinosissimus (Regan, 1904) as the single species (Hardy 1984).It is characterised from other tetraodontid genera, especially from the closely related genus Amblyrhynchotes Troschel [ex Bibron], 1856, by the nasal papilla bearing two nostrils, only the dorsal eye rim adnate, no ventrolateral fold of skin, and the presence of well developed upper and lower lateral lines extending along the body to the caudal-fi n base.
A specimen of Tylerius spinosissimus from the northern Red Sea was recently identifi ed in deep water materials of the HUJ collection; it is described in the present paper.The earlier unsubstantiated Red Sea record of this species can now be confi rmed.
On 9 July 1992, a 38.6 mm SL specimen of Tylerius spinosissimus was collected by Albert Baranes off Eilat, Israel, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, with a beam trawl at 350-400 m depth.The specimen was deposited in the Hebrew University Fish Collection and registered under the catalogue number HUJ 17441.Counts and measurements follow Hubbs and Lagler (1947); the classifi cation follows Eschmeyer et al. (2016), description details follow Hardy (1981), fi n-ray counts follow Fricke (1983), references according to Fricke (2016).The standard length is abbreviated as SL the head length as HL.

Family Tetraodontidae Bonaparte, 1831
Genus Tylerius Hardy, 1984 Tylerius spinosissimus (Regan, 1908) Description of the Red Sea specimen: Proportions given in Table 1 are part of this description.Dorsal-fi n rays viii, anal-fi n rays vi, pectoral-fi n rays xvi, caudal-fi n rays xi.Body elongate, barely fl attened ventrally, tapering to short, narrow caudal peduncle; mouth small, terminal; lips covered with numerous short papillae; chin lacking; nasal organ short, fl attened papilla, set in slight depression just forward to eye, distally with 2 moderately separated, similarly sized opening; eye moderate, round and dorsally adnate only, upper border below dorsal profi le, lower border well above corner of mouth; prebranchial margin smooth.
No obvious ventrolateral skin fold; lateral line fairly distinct, encircling eye with anterodorsal branch anterior to nasal organ but failing to meet in midline, and preopercular branch dropping towards lateral limit of belly, extending along body to caudal fi n, rising high over pectoral fi n and gently dropping under dorsal fi n; mid-dorsal branch of lateral line above pectoral fi n not meeting in midline; second lateral line dropping from behind corner of mouth, extending along lateral region of belly except for break ventral to pectoral fi n.
Body spines 2-rooted, well developed and moderately dense, extending dorsally and laterally from before nasal organs almost to caudal-fi n base, and extending ventrally from chin region to anal fi n.
Pectoral fi ns dorsally elongate and rounded; top of base well below lower margin of eye; fi rst ray moderately long; dorsal fi n elongate and bluntly pointed, based directly above vent; anal-fi n base short, anal-fi n rays partly fused; caudal fi n truncate.
Colour after 24 years in preservative (Figs.1-2): Head and body brown; lower sides of body and belly pale, scattered with minute dark brown spots; eye dark grey; fi ns yellowish, caudal fi n distally dark grey.Remarks.Tylerius spinosissimus was fi rst described by Regan (1908: 253, pl.31, fi g. 5, "Spheroides spinosissimus") from deep water off the Saya de Malha Bank, western Indian Ocean (holotype: BMNH 1908.3.23.299).The species was reviewed and redescribed in detail based on the holotype and additional specimens from off Western Australia by Hardy (1981: 313, as  spinosissimus").Hardy (1984: 32) placed the species in a separate, new genus Tylerius Hardy, 1984. Budker andFourmanoir (1954: 324, "Amblyrhynchotes spinosissimus") were the fi rst to report the species from Hurghada (Egypt, Red Sea) in a species list without a description or supporting specimens in a collection.This record was repeatedly listed by Dor (1984: 253) and Goren and Dor (1994: 74).Golani and Bogorodsky (2010: 86) noted that the species "does not occur in the Red Sea," and that " Budker and Fourmanoir's (1954) record is evidently a misidentifi cation of Arothron diadematus (Rüppell, 1829)."However, several records of Tylerius spinosissimus from Rhodes (Corsini et al. 2005, Corsini-Foka et al. 2010), Israel (Golani et al. 2011), and Iskenderun Bay, Turkey (Turan and Yaglioglu 2011) in the eastern Mediterranean suggest that the species is a Lessepsian migrant and does occur in the Red Sea.
During the examination of tetraodontid fi shes in the HUJ collection, the authors of the present paper discovered a specimen from off Eilat, Israel, collected in 1992 which they identifi ed as Tylerius spinosissimus.The Red Sea record of that species can therefore now be confi rmed; this also represents a fi rst record from Israel and the Gulf of Aqaba, and adds to the knowledge of deep water species of the Red Sea.The species has not yet been recorded from the coast of Jordan (Khalaf and Zajonz 2007), and is neither present in the German deep-sea expeditions to the Red Sea, MESEDA I-III and MINDIK (Türkay 1996; fi sh identifi cations see Zajonz 2006, and an unpublished faunal account by Uwe Zajonz).
There are slight differences to the specimens described by Hardy (1981), i.e., in the anal-fi n ray number (6 versus 7) and proportions of the caudal peduncle and the snout.Another specimen recently recorded from the Mediterranean coast of Israel by Golani et al. 2011 (HUJ 19946, 1 specimen, 27.3 mm SL, Israel, Ashdod-Tel Aviv, trawl at 120-140 m depth, Dor Edelist, 5 May 2010; proportions see Table 1) shows similar differences to the specimens described by Hardy (1981).Additional material is needed to examine the variability of Red Sea/ Mediterranean Sea populations, and to decide if they are distinct from T. spinosissimus sensu stricto.
The presently described specimen was collected with a beam trawl at 350-400 m depth, possibly above sand bottom.The new distribution record of Tylerius spinosissimus from the Red Sea adds to the picture of a wide Indo-West Pacifi c and Red Sea distribution range of this species (Fig 3).This deep water species is rarely collected, and apparent gaps in the known distribution range probably just refl ect the absence of deep water fi sh collections in many parts of the range.
In the Red Sea, other suitable habitats for this species are found throughout the lower continental shelf of the main body and the Gulf of Aqaba.The species probably dispersed into the eastern Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal by means of its pelagic larvae; the existing records from three distant areas in the Mediterranean suggest that the species has already established reproducing populations, and additional records are expected.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Dr. Albert Baranes (HUJ) for collecting highly interesting deep water materials from the Gulf of Aqaba, including the specimen of Tylerius spinosissimus recorded in the present paper, and to Dr. Dor Edelist for collecting the specimen from the Mediterranean coast of Israel (HUJ 19946).

Fig. 3 .
Fig. 3. Tylerius spinosissimus, map of the Indo-West Pacifi c, Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean Sea with the known distribution of the species; 1 = new record from Gulf of Aqaba; 2 = Egyptian record by Budker and Fourmanoir 1954; 3 = Other records [Map produced with QGIS 2.12.2]